Dear World,

Last night I took down all our Christmas decorations and experienced an incredible feeling of clean-slatishness (not a word) for the coming year. In general, Christmas and the winter holidays always feel like the accumulation of a whole year gone by to me. It’s the big party to celebrate 12 more months of life.

So, depending on my perspective, these days in January can be exciting or depressing. This scripture passage helped me lean into the excitement perspective:

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43:19)

As beautiful as it is to celebrate all the gifts in the past, too much emphasis on nostalgia can get in the way of the new things that are about to happen. My natural tendency is to dwell on the past, and I often miss what’s right in front of me.

But God is always doing new things, making new things, and renewing old things. I am learning that in this life nothing really ever stays the same, so my New Year’s resolution is to appreciate the new things that God is doing and maybe finally be o.k with some of the old things I’ve had to leave behind.